Activists in Court for Tenth Time for Peace Action in April 2017

Today saw another appearance by Edward Horgan and Dan Dowling at Ennis District Court arising from their attempts to search and investigate two US warplanes at Shannon Airport on 18 April 2017.

That's 18 months ago.

As they were justified in their actions on that night it is likely that they will never be convicted of any offence. The Gardaí, the courts and the State prosecutors know this, so their objectives are probably to drag out the case as long as possible so as to punish the activists as much as possible.

This was Edward and Dan's 10th court appearance so far. They've been at Ennis District Court, Ennis Circuit Court and Dublin Circuit, and today back again at Ennis District Court, with no end in sight. Today they were expecting to see their charges at Ennis District Court either forwarded up to the Circuit Court or dismissed, but instead the Judge said he would just put forward for mention to 10 April 2019, not withstanding the fact that the Circuit Court in Dublin has already tried to set a trial date for 2 March 2020! There were some sharp discussions between defendant Horgan and Judge Durcan, and it ended with the defendant asking Judge Durcan twice to recuse himself for this case on the grounds there may be "a perception of bias" by him in these matters.